Daniël Lakens has produced an interesting contribution to history of psychology by tracing the similarities and differences in social psychology’s two crises. The first crisis was in the 1970s, and is exemplified by Gergen’s (1973) article, “Social Psychology as History” published in the field’s flagship Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Gergen questioned whether any findings in social psychology could be generalized because the field is, by definition, a study of the effects of cultural and social forces, which are ever-changing. The second crisis emerged in the 2010s, where current social psychologists are struggling with the low rates of reproducibility of published research findings.
In a conservative system such as science it might require a crisis to instigate self-reflection on how a field can improve (McGuire, 1973; Mills, 1979), and to motivate scientists to embrace change.
Lakens uses quotes from published articles in both time periods to trace the definitions and responses to the crises in both periods, and draws some interesting parallels.
Link to Concerns about Replicability, Theorizing, Applicability, Generalizability, and Methodology across Two Crises in Social Psychology: https://psyarxiv.com/dtvs7/